‘Super Smash Bros.’ Wii U Nintendo Direct Coming Thursday

Super Smash Bros. has already launched on the Nintendo 3DS platform successfully, and now a whole trophy collection full of details are coming this week for the Wii U version. This huge group of details comes on the tail end of an Amazon listing that revealed several game modes and a long string of teases on the Miiverse from the developers themselves. The Wii U and Nintendo are depending on this iteration to deliver high sales numbers to continue the upward trending sales of the home console.

In an announcement today, Nintendo revealed that the Wii U version of Super Smash Bros. will have a dedicated Nintendo Direct. Within the confines of the company’s go-to digital announcement platform, 50 new facts will be given to the public for consumption in relation to the title. This is, by far, the largest single offering of facts delivered in this format since its inception, but many fans would say that the company has a lot of catching up to do on that front as the Wii U edition is coming out a month and a day from today with little information currently available.

Some of those details coming via the Direct may overlap those that are already making internet rounds thanks to various leaks. An Amazon item description for Super Smash Bros. revealed a couple of new modes to the series, a board game mode and Master and Crazy hand “challenges,” and a returning favorite in Create-a-Stage. While these may be more detailed in the Direct, their presence is already out there amongst the internet and makes these seem like less of revelations. There is also the possibility that some of the 50 facts involve the roster, but that has already been revealed with the 3DS version of the game and Nintendo has confirmed those rosters will be the same. Fans are welcomed by Nintendo to tune to the official Nintendo Direct page, which is linked below, at 6 P.M. Eastern Standard Time on Oct. 23 to see what kind of facts are revealed.

The staggered releases of the Wii U and 3DS versions of Super Smash Bros. have been under some question as of late, and the director of both, Masahiro Sakurai, has not been shy about answering them directly. In his weekly column, Sakurai has kept to answering questions revolving around both versions of the game in recent weeks, and explained last week the reason behind the Wii U’s later release. “Compared to the 3DS,” he begins, “the Wii U [version] is larger in scale and also has many modes.” He concludes by saying that larger scale simply takes more production time to perfect.

Super Smash Bros. for the Wii U will be a bit more filled out after the Nintendo Direct this week, but many fans of the franchise are already sold on the home console version. Pre-orders for this version of the title were estimated at 33,837 as of Oct. 4 while the amount of Amazon reservations have it as the fourth-most pre-ordered video game for the site with four weeks until release. These numbers bode well for Nintendo, who is looking for Super Smash Bros. to continue the upward trend of their Wii U console.